The Apprentice: No place in business for an academic

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Hurrah! The Apprentice has started again. "I would be quite happy to cut people out of my life to succeed" - one of the first statements... quickly followed by "I am the best sales person in Europe", ha, ha, ha! Where on earth do they get this self-belief? Have these people never seen the series? Do they not know these hyperbolic statements will come back to haunt them?

Well the first person to get kicked out is barrister Nick. Quite unbelievable that he is a barrister - his defence in the board room was awful. A man who freely admitted to being devasted at only achieving a B grade in his French GCSE - a blot on an otherwise unblemished A grade academic record. Jesus! To say he crumbled in the board room would be an understatement, he was a blithering wreck. I hope to God I never have to employ him to represent me in court.

Alan's conclusion? That there is no place for academics in business. Is this really true?

Such a simple task they had to do - sell fresh fish bought at wholesale, for a profit. Why is it that people who have reportedly dealt with million pound contracts can't operate on this level? They mostly all fell to bits - bickering like kids. Especially the boys team. A class divide was blamed for the failure of the task - interesting. So defensive.

There are tears already in the next week. Looking forward to it.

I wonder what the general consensus is - does being academically bright preclude you from being successful in business?